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Vivitar Series One 70-210mm f3.5 Macro
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Russ wrote:

I forgot to mention that this snap (woman picking flowers) was made on the old, crappy Ektachrome 200, from the mid 80's. I pushed it two stops to ASA 800 in order to break up the grain, used a diffusion filter, in an effort to get a "rennaisance painting" effect. Hopefully, that explains it's apparent lack of sharpness


Really glad you said that, since my initial reaction was "well, thats no great recommendation for what the lens can do"...

I do find some softness and lack of contrast in my shots, especially at the edges, even stopped down. I worry that (as Attila predicted) its not as good as my Nikkor 80-200 f/4.5 which would suck, if confirmed.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ChrisLilley wrote:
Russ wrote:

I forgot to mention that this snap (woman picking flowers) was made on the old, crappy Ektachrome 200, from the mid 80's. I pushed it two stops to ASA 800 in order to break up the grain, used a diffusion filter, in an effort to get a "rennaisance painting" effect. Hopefully, that explains it's apparent lack of sharpness


Really glad you said that, since my initial reaction was "well, thats no great recommendation for what the lens can do"...

I do find some softness and lack of contrast in my shots, especially at the edges, even stopped down. I worry that (as Attila predicted) its not as good as my Nikkor 80-200 f/4.5 which would suck, if confirmed.


No comparison. It'll blow away your Nikon version. I personally, like the second and third editions even more...

Russ


PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Either I have an infinity focus issue, or 'no comparison' turns out to be correct in the opposite way that Russ intended.



Both shots taken at ISO 200, 1/400s f/11 with a Nikon D40. Shots less than a minute apart.
These are 100% crops, shot RAW, saved as TIFF and then the two images combined and labelled in Photoshop. Result saved as PNG.

Left: Vivitar Series 1 (first edition, Kiron) 70-210 f/3.5. Right: Zoom-Nikkor 80-200 f/4.5 AI (second version).


PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nikkor looks lot better...


PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
Nikkor looks lot better...


Yeah, there really is 'no comparison'. Build quality on the Viv is better and it has lasted better (the zoom and focus ring on the Nikkor flops all over the place) but the optics on the Nikkor clearly deliver better contrast and sharpness. These are center crops.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I know one Kiron lens only what is better than Nikkor competitor that is Kiron 105mm f2.8 macro 1:1. Image quality is perhaps same than Nikkor 105mm but this lens has built in macro 1:1. Any other Kiron what I tested was a bit weaker than equivalent Nikkor lens.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:29 pm    Post subject: Some more tests Reply with quote
Some more comparisons. This is the base shot to show where cropped regions come from in the other tests. Shots were taken on a tripod and using a remote shutter release.



One lens is f/3.5 and the other f/4.5, so comparison at f/4 is not possible.
Vivitar on the left, Nikkor on the right.

f/5.6, 1/640s


f/8, 1/320s


f/11, 1/160s


So, what I see is - the Vivitar is soft af f/5.6, better at f/8, still a bit better at f/11. The Nikkor is already sharp at f/5.6, still sharp at f/8, and starting to soften a little (diffraction) at f/11. Also, the Nikkor at f/5.6 is sharper and has better contrast than the Vivitar at any setting.
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